Forever Geeky Names
Updated Sat Jan 03 2026
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Some baby names seem irredeemably geeky — though we've learned in the world of baby naming, to paraphrase Heidi Klum, one day you're out, and the next day you may be very very in.
While all of these nerdy names sit outside the realm of fashion, some have their geekiness enhanced by a connection to a particularly dorky character from pop culture. Among them, Elmer, Velma, Cletus, Barney, Dwight, Kermit, Dilbert, and Waldo. You can give one of these names to your child… if you dare. Will they be lost to time or eventually make a comeback? Some are moving from geek to chic already, but others are forever geeky.
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- Wilbur
Origin:
English, GermanMeaning:
"wild boar"Description:
Clunky yet cuddly, Wilbur is a stylish name in the UK where it currently sits in the Top 600, as cool as Rupert or Wilfred. Its merits are starting to be rediscovered in the US, where it was last truly popular more than a century ago. A recent year saw it given to 42 boys.
- Virgil
Origin:
LatinMeaning:
"staff bearer"Description:
The name of the greatest Roman poet and an early Irish saint who believed the earth was round, Virgil is heard most notably today as the name of designer Virgil Abloh of Off-White.
- Gilbert
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"shining pledge"Description:
Considered ultra debonair in the silent-movie era, Gilbert then went through a nerdy phase, a la Gilbert Gottfried. Now though, like Albert and Alfred and Walter and Frank, it could be in for a style revival.
- Ernest
Origin:
English from GermanMeaning:
"serious, resolute"Description:
Ernest is one of those sober, so-far-out-they're-beginning-to-be-reconsidered Great Uncle names. Ernest recently received a big style boost when Britain's Princess Eugenie chose it for her second son.
- Clarence
Origin:
LatinMeaning:
"bright"Description:
The name of the guardian angel in It's a Wonderful Life is rarely heard the rest of the year because of its studious, near-nerdy image, but this could change in the current naming climate.
- Cyril
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"lordly"Description:
A British-accented Greek name with an intellectual image that has been off the U.S. charts since 1966, but was a Top 300 name at the turn of the last century. We have the feeling Cyril's ready for a comeback.
- Marion
Origin:
French derivative of MaryMeaning:
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved"Description:
Fun fact: Marion was the birth name of movie star John Wayne. Although commonly thought of as a female name today, it was actually more popular for boys until the late 19th century, and was given to roughly equal numbers of boys and girls throughout the 1970s-2000s.
- Kermit
Origin:
Irish, variant of Diarmaid/DermotMeaning:
"without injunction, without envy"Description:
Kermit was a Top 500 name until the 1960s, not coincidentally the decade in which Kermit the Frog made it a one-person (well, one-frog) name.
- Barney
Origin:
Variation of BarnabasMeaning:
"son of comfort"Description:
The name Barney is hot among hip Londoners and it has been above the Top 500 in the UK since 2012. You can see why - it's got a friendly happy sound and a lovely meaning and is more easily worn than Barnabas. However, Barney is a more difficult sell in America, due to Barney the Dinosaur and Barney Gumble, the loveable lout from The Simpsons. In the positive column for Barney are jazz clarinetist Barney Bigard and guitarist Barney Kessel. For those who love the name but can't get past the dinosaur, may we suggest the related names Bernard or Barnaby?
- Hubert
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"bright, shining intellect"Description:
A name that sounds so old-fashioned some parents out there might conceivably find it quirky enough for a comeback, along with other one-time fuddie-duddies like Oscar and Homer.
- Doris
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"gift of the ocean"Description:
Doris had long been on our so-far-out-it-will-always-be-out-for-babies list, and seemed to be written there in indelible ink. But there are signs of a sea change, that Doris could profit from the revivals of Dorothy and Dorothea.
- Gladys
Origin:
Possibly a form or Claudia or WelshMeaning:
"land, nation"Description:
Hard as it might be to believe, Gladys was the Harper of 1900, emerging almost out of nowhere to take the naming world by storm. It became a favorite among parents — and writers of romantic Edwardian novels, seen as alluring and unusual. One impetus was the 1870 Ouida novel Puck, whose heroine was the idealized beauty, Gladys Gerant.
- Ephraim
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"fruitful, fertile, productive"Description:
Ephraim is an Old Testament name we would place high on the list of neglected Biblical possibilities, solid but not solemn.
- Melvin
Origin:
English and ScottishMeaning:
"council protector"Description:
This once perfectly respectable surname has suffered decades of abuse, not least by Jerry Lewis's character in the fifties. NFL running back Melvin Gordon stars for the Los Angeles Chargers.
- Enoch
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"dedicated"Description:
A major figure in the Old Testament, Enoch was the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah whose Book of Enoch provides a focal point for ancient Jewish mysticism. Another Enoch was the son of Cain. "Enoch Arden" is a famous poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. On the negative side, British politician Enoch Powell gave the infamously racist Rivers of Blood anti-immigration speech, taking the name out of consideration for many parents in the UK.
- Seymour
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"marshy land near the sea"Description:
Out playing shuffleboard at his condo and not expected back for several generations -- unless it morphs into a girls' name, a la Sydney.
- Bertram
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"bright raven"Description:
Last in fashion in the 1930s, Bertram might once have been firmly in the best left in the past category, but with sweet nickname Bertie and the cool option of Bram, Bertram might just be one to reconsider. Fitting in with other clunky vintage options like Chester, Sidney, Abram, Ebenenzer, and Wilfred, Bertram is a literary option, appearing as the full first name of P.G. Wodehouse's inimitable Bertie Wooster and on a character in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.
- Elwood
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"elder tree forest"Description:
The "el-" sound is red-hot these days, and a myriad of place names and surnames give this name a wealth of possible namesakes. The main drawback is its kinship to the name of the hero of the Legally Blond series, Elle Woods, though that will fade with time.
- Hiram
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"brother of the exalted one"Description:
Hiram is the kind of forgotten biblical name that adventurous parents who wish to move beyond David and Daniel are beginning to reconsider--even though it has bits of its old stiff-collared image clinging to it, along with a little hillbilly feel as well.
- Mortimer
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"dead sea"Description:
Other kids might see a teasible connection to mortician or mortuary. Mortimer is an English family name used a few generations ago as an Anglicization of Moses; it was Walt Disney's original choice for the name of his mouse, until his wife talked him out of it.
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